吉田松陰之生死觀

Yoshida-Shouin`s outlook on life and death

在促成明治維新的諸多思想家中，吉田松陰是位極重要的人物。他不僅遺留下龐大的著述，更常作為一急先鋒，勇於實踐尊王攘夷之回天事業，進而喚起後繼者的奮起。本篇論文特別著重於松陰的實踐性思想核心「死諫」，試圖闡明其辯證法式之生死觀。此即為，受個人之死感召而繼承其遺志的他人奮起，進而以死諫式的忠誠來激發下個後繼者的崛起。首先，本論文詳細分析松陰對士道的死之解釋及武士道的死之見解來闡明他所構築出獨自的「死諫」之實踐式忠誠觀。根據此倫理觀，當無法遂行對天皇（皇國）的忠誠時，便形成罪業，而個人將不單要承攬其一罪業，更藉所謂去私之死的覺悟來進行個人規諫期以導入理想的狀態。接著，吾人一面檢視松陰在其晚年時對生死的思想變遷，一面提出他所言及的將生死委於自然之自然觀點，並更進一步地藉由探討其臨死前所寫下《留魂錄》中的「四季論」來闡釋松陰所謂的生即死、死即生之辯證法式的生死觀。

Among many thinkers who prompted the Meiji Restoration, Yoshida-Shouin is an extremely important person. He not only left a huge number of writings, but also served as a forerunner to carry out the great task of “revering the Emperor and expelling the barbarians,” and furthermore aroused his successors to action. This thesis particularly pays attention to the central idea of Shouin's practical thought, “to remonstrate with the readiness for death,” attempting to clarify his dialectical view of life and death, that is, to bring about a successor at the cost of one's death, and with that spirit of remonstrative death to arouse still another successor to action. First, we are going to analyze Shouin's interpretation about both the death of Shido and the death of Bushido, in order to comprehend his unique yet practical idea of loyalty, the remonstrative death. Allegiance to the Emperor (the Empire) was then considered necessary, and therefore failing to accomplish it was a sin. To remonstrate with the readiness for death is not only an individual atonement for the sin, but also a moral concept intending to lead people towards the right conditions through such personal remonstrance that has nothing to do with the interests of oneself. Secondly, Shouin's change in the thought of life and death during his later years are also going to be discussed. We would pick up his naturalistic theory that one should leave his life and death to the hands of nature. Furthermore, by examining the theory of four seasons in Ryukonroku written right before his death, we could understand Shouin's dialectical view of life and death, which shows that life is death, and death is life.